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Great Sage 8 – With My True Face
There exists a concept known as the law of universal gravitation.
Objects above the ground are not just pulled down, but every object in the universe is pulling on one another. In other words they have gravitational pull.
That was the same even in the other world.
The heavier something is the stronger the pull towards the ground is.
However the two masses before my eyes, as if to mock that law, bounce upwards to emphasise their beautiful shape and glossy tone.
“Ta- Tatatatatsuya-kun, so suddenly. Ma- Maya is still awake I think”
As I was absorbed contemplating physics, Kanako-chan takes a pose reminiscent of Sandro Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’.
Her right hand covering her chest and her left hand at a more important place.
――Aah, it’s like the goddess of beauty is here.
The new truth brought to me by contemplating fine arts left a deep impression on me.
“What are you doing to mom!”
From behind, Maya-chan does a jumping knee drop.
×　×　×　×　×
“Now, get walking!”
I decided that it was probably not a good idea to dodge and took Maya-chan’s jumping knee drop to the face.
It’s definitely not because, as her legs were spread wide open, my gaze was drawn once again to her flower print panties.
“Are you okay?”
Asks Kanako-chan with a concerned face
.. But Maya-chan, with her ears and tail hidden, replies,
“Don’t worry mom. I’ll be sure to properly train this mongrel”
She grabs me by the scruff of the neck and drags me out of the changing room to the storefront.
“Rook is chasing after the fleeing mages, Shrine Maiden-chan is in custody in my special room. That place is fully equipped with food and a bathroom”
“But the mafia and your brother still remain right”
Oh yeah, they were so irrelevant I completely forgot.
I thought they would have run away by now but my brother is still slumped down in front of the store. The rest of the mafia have also collapsed outside.
“Ryuujin-sama subdued them”
I look up and see the Dragon King looking down on the mafia who are groaning.
The barrier has also scaled down and now only only covers the surrounding area.
“Thanks Gyaa-chan, you can return for today”
I spread my two arms and the Dragon King is sucked between them into my storage magic.
“Gyaa-chan?”
“The Dragon King’s nickname. They call me Sato-chan back, it’s how our relationship is
Maya-chan wordlessly tilts her head,
“What should we do with these guys”
I gaze at the five dirty men and fold my arms,
“Whatever we do, we probably shouldn’t just let them run like this”
She pouts her cheeks and glares at me
Certainly this is a place with bad public order where bandits can roam around mugging people and leaving the fallen cartridges and bullets would cause trouble for Kanako-chan later.
“Understood”
I use magic to gather all the traces of a gunfight and shove them into the minivan then fix my younger brothers wig before poking him in the cheek.
“Y-Y-You’re
..”
I feel some pity looking at his frightened expression but,
“Coward who flees from sin, when night descends remember this face. ――This is terror”
I gaze into his eyes, and make a smile with my true face.
While I’m at it I search his memories of nineteen years ago but, as expected he wasn’t even aware he killed his older brother.
Like this I won’t even be able to pinpoint the person behind this all.
I stuff my brother, who had fainted once again, into the minivan and speak to the collapsed mafia members,
“Now please drive safely on your way back”
After I use magic to plant a suggestion on them, they all nod their heads up and down and pile into the car.
“Hey, what kind of magic was that?”
“A simple suggestion. They’ll return to normal in a few hours”
Well, my brother might not be able to sleep for a while.
“Not the mafia, that hopeless person who seems like they may be related by blood”
I stroke Maya-chan’s head, whose expression had turned serious.
“I didn’t use any sort of magic”
As I tell her the truth
..
With the expression I usually make, I return a smile.
×　×　×　×　×
Maya-chan was demanding answers for all sorts of things but,
“It’s getting late today so I’ll explain properly tomorrow”
I got her to return to her room.
I return to uncle’s room and use restoration magic to fix the broken glass then question King and Queen but as expected, I couldn’t get any information on the person who hid their presence.
No matter how many times I inspect the cut knight, there’s no trace of mana.
“I might be overthinking it”
Anyway tomorrow let’s try talking to Maya-chan’s aunt
.. the kitsune clans elder. I also wanted to enter an onsen so its great timing.
Just in case I release three new pawns to the stores surroundings and I release the one remaining knight to stay near Kanako-chan.
While organising the situation I set up a chessboard in my head.
1. The enemy targeted the room I was in with a surprise attack.
2. My brother said ‘Hired by the kitsune’.
3. After dodging my Nyoi, the beautiful girl in shrine maiden clothes gave up their chance to counter attack and purposely stood on top the minivan to watch my movements.
4. The enemy who concealed their presence and has the ability to suppress both Queen and Knight had their target, Kanako-chan’s eyes, right before them but disappeared at the same time I drew near.
There’s a chance the enemy who concealed their presence knew my ability and, without sharing it with the mafia or the girl in shrine maiden clothes, used them in order to target Kanako-chan.
As expected I have a bad feeling about this.
Not to mention I received a strange report from the rook who was chasing after the mages.
“It’s not good to think in the middle of the night, let’s just sleep for today”
I crawl into my futon when
..
Kanako-chan came up to my room with soft steps. I confirm using an image from the knight and see her loitering around my door hugging a pillow.
Does she intend to hit me with that pillow as revenge?
If it’s just that I’m satisfied to accept it but from the adjacent room that Maya-chan was sleeping in, the gaze of an assassin could be felt through the slightly opened door.
So I play dumb and enter the futon once again
Now that I think about it, I feel like I forgot about something inside my storage magic but if I can’t remember then it can’t have been important.
×　×　×　×　×
“Um, sorry about last night. Getting drunk and showing you such disgraceful behaviour”
After Maya-chan called “Breakfast’s ready” in a loud voice, I sat down at the same table as last night and Kanako-chan spoke to me while fidgeting.
“No no no, thanks for giving me such nice things. If anything I don’t want to cause you trouble”
Remembering the goddess of beauty from last night, my face turns red,
“I don’t think he’s trouble at all, we’ve become veeery close”
Maya-chan pushily cuts in front of Kanako-chan.
“I- Is that so, that’s nice Maya. What happened”
“Hm, that’s a secret between me and Onii-san!”
Maya-chan has been strangely close this morning.
Did I manage to gain her trust after last nights incident? It seems somewhat complex though.
While eating breakfast, she asks what my plans were for the day and when I mention I intend to visit Onsen Inari they decide to come along.
Today is sunday and club activities are on break so the timing is good it seems.
“I’m going to change to wait a bit”
Said Maya-chan.
After I finish eating, I get up from my seat and speak to Kanako-chan.
“This isn’t enough as thanks for letting me stay but here’s a cell phone strap I made”
I pull out a strap with a shrunken king attached to it from my pocket,
“What’s this? Some unusual dragon mascot, thanks. But I usually keep my smartphone in a case so I’ll use this to decorate my room”
Staring at the strap Kanako-chan smiles happily.
Smartphone? Case?
I don’t really understand but there’s no point if it’s left in her room.
I return the Dragon King to my pocket and begin to think of a new plan.
I’m concerned about the magic stone pieces after last nights attack. When shrunk the Dragon King won’t be able to tail her on it’s own so this was a desperate measure but
..
She might not keep a key holder on her at all times and if I made a necklace, there’s a risk the Dragon King will never leave that place deeper than the valley of death.
As I was troubled, Kanako-chan peered strangely at me curiously.
“You don’t have to make such a fuss”
“Nah this is a problem of my conviction
.. or perhaps I should say responsibility”
“You’re exaggerating”
Looking at Kanako-chan’s hands on the table, I had a flash of inspiration.
“Last night Ryuuki and his group came. I sent them away but I don’t know what will happen from now on, I want to protect Kanako-chan”
In the previous world, ring items were a big deal so I often exchanged and received them.
I take Kanako-chan’s hand and use a magic I learnt at that time to determine the size of her fingers.
“Something like that, your thoughts are enough”
While looking at Kanako-chan’s reddening face, I turn King into a ring in my pocket.
“That’s why I’d like you to take this and keep it on you at all times”
I put it on her finger to confirm the size,
“S- Such a thing
.. I have Maya, and I’ve been married before”
Kanako-chan’s hand was trembling.
What does she mean by married before?1
The way she says it seems to have some self deprecating meaning but,
“I’m sure Maya-chan will understand, besides Kanako-chan is still beautiful even now”
I forcefully push the ring onto her,
“W-W-W-Wait something like this”
With a deep red face she holds the ring up and moves like a broken doll.
“Could it be” “This is” “A dream?”
The stiff way her arms and legs move reminds me of something I’ve seen before.
“Ah I got it! It’s a robot dance”
I raise my voice and
..
Like a puppet whose strings had been cut, Kanako-chan fell onto the table.
Translator’s Notes:
1: Kanako says batsuichi which literally means one cross (as in having a name struck from the family register) and is slang for a divorcee so Saitou’s confusion is slightly more understandable.
Sorry for missing a chapter last week I was pretty busy over the Christmas/New Year period. With this chapter we’ve finished the first act of Great Sage. See you next week for the start of act 2, ‘Fools Dance in the Moonlit Night’.